Winthrop men’s basketball defeats Mid-Atlantic Christian, 103-59, in home opener
The Winthrop men’s basketball team never trailed in its home-opening, 103-59 win over Mid-Atlantic Christian on Saturday afternoon at Winthrop Coliseum in Rock Hill.
The Eagles outmatched their Division II opponents in almost every statistical category: They shot 54 percent from the floor and went 14-for-35 from three. The team got to the line the most it has all season, shooting 19-for-27; and it even notched a majority of its points from its bench players: 60.
Winthrop saw its lead shrink to 13 with just over 14 minutes left in the game, causing a head coach Pat Kelsey time out. But out of the break, its lead ballooned again with help from a trio of true Josh Corbin jump shots.
“I feel good,” Corbin said after his 18-point night, a career high. “We started out slow, but we ended up getting the job done. First game at home; it feels good.”
In addition to Corbin, D.J. Burns added 18 points and six rebounds. Senior Josh Ferguson scored 15 points.
Burns, a Rock Hill native, said he enjoyed the homecoming-weekend crowd, which included his family.
“It was a great feeling to finally get that game in and seeing my family and all of the people there supporting me,” Burns said with a smile postgame. “It was crazy. I don’t think that I’ve had an experience like it, and I look forward to having many more.”
It was the most dominant win of the season for Winthrop — ostensibly a breath of fresh air after a grueling road trip that featured two one-possession losses and a two-point victory over No. 18 Saint Mary’s on the road that made history.
Notable: ‘A hard fall’
Winthrop starting guard Michael Anumba spent most the second half with a towel over his head, slowly pedaling a stationary bike behind his team’s bench.
Early in the first half, Anumba chased down an outlet pass, went up for a fast break layup, was hit mid-air and landed on his back. He then writhed in pain on the floor as athletic trainers approached him with urgency. After a few minutes, he was helped to his feet, and the sophomore starter limped off the court with his arms linked over two others.
He was out for the rest of the game.
Kelsey said he didn’t have anything official to report on the status of the sophomore.
“It was a hard fall,” he said. “It was a really, really hard fall. And he’s a tough kid — a really tough kid. And he was in a lot of pain. So when he’s in pain, and he can’t get up and play, you know something’s not right.”
Kyle Zunic and Hunter Hale also didn’t play in the team’s home opener.
Quotable: ‘I was fired up’
Corbin on what he learned about his team: “Our thing is ‘relentless effort,’ so we just play hard all the time. And we’re very unselfish, too. It could be my game one game, his the other; we don’t really care about that. We’re very unselfish, and we just play hard all of the time.”
Kelsey on the crowd: “They brought it tonight. They brought it. They brought butts in seats, and there was a buzz. And I was excited. I was fired up. Every time we have a crowd like that, man, it just juices me up. I want to go recruiting right now.
“I told my assistants get me somebody… Send me somewhere because I’m going to go tell them about the atmosphere at our games, and what’s going to happen here over the next couple of years.”
This story was originally published November 16, 2019 at 7:52 PM.
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